AMT 1/25 2012 Corvette Coupe Kit First Look

By Phil Cooley, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)

First Look

If you grew up in the 60s, fast cars were a big deal and the fastest of them all was the Corvette. I still remember the first one I had a ride it—a medium blue 68 coupe. I don't remember if it was a big block or a small block—I just remember it made the right sounds and it looked cool! You didn't see many Corvettes back then—they were Chevy's flagship and though they didn't sell all that many, they brought a lot of people into Chevy showrooms around the country.

When I was a kid, my favorite model cars were AMT's Corvette's. The first one I had was a 1963 Split Window with a Fuelie V8. Back then most of AMT's kits were 3 in 1s. You had the option of building your model showroom stock, race car, or custom. That 63 didn't disappoint! And neither did any of the the other AMT's Corvettes through the early 70s. Then the legacy was taken over by MPC. And so it went for a few years, then MPC fell on hard times and Revell/Monogram and AMT took up the slack.

Real cars don't change as often now as they did in the 60s—you don't see yearly changes anymore, nor do scale models change on an annual basis. However, I think AMT and Revell are doing a pretty good job of bringing us our favorite performance cars—the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger and the Corvette.

One of AMT's newest releases is a 2012 Chevy Corvette Coupe. This is not a 3 in 1, kit—you can only build it one way--showroom stock. That's not a bad thing though—every modeler needs an easy build once and a while, something that he doesn't have to do a lot of research on or doesn't have to do much in the way of detailing. And that is what we have here. Paint the body and interior, do the decals and you'll have a fairly authentic C6 couple in just a few hours. If you want to go all out, detail paint the chassis, too. Just know that you don't have to.

This kit is a curbside—an unassembled promo. If I counted correctly, there are under 50 pieces. The chassis is one piece and the wheel tire assembly is simple, though there is an OK representation of a disk brake for each one. The axles for this kit are a throwback to the old days—wire axles. For a curbside, I think that's the right way to go.

The interior and body appear to be accurate representations of the real thing. The interior has separate door panels and vinyl seats, a dashboard, steering column and wheel, and a shifter.

The body has separate front and rear fascias, mirrors, a non-opening hood, plus clear fog light, head light and tail light lenses. You'll have to add a little color to get an authentic look to them. You'll also need to do a little detail painting to the headlight assembly to get an accurate representation.

Before I forget, there is a super decal sheet that is an integral part of this kit. And AMT/Round 2 did us all a favor by providing duplicates of the small, easily damaged ones., including the ones you'll need for the interior!

I am pleased with this kit and believe it would make a good first kit for a novice builder or one of the afore-mentioned “I need a break” kits.

My sincere thanks to Round2 Models for this review sample